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March 2016 Vol 46 Same Canoe Newsletter Hawaii, California & Washington
Community Designs for Healthy Living. Farm to Fork Picnic. Join a local CSA
Food and Plants for Health and Wellness at Farmers Markets & Library
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March 6th
Picnic in the Garden with the Lokahi Garden Sanctuary and Chef Stephen Rouelle of Under the Bodhi Tree. Location: North Kohala.
Come enjoy a farm walk, wellness talks, and delicious local foods, Farm to Fork, picnic on Sunday the 6th,
Hosted by Dr. Richard Liebmann and Natalie Young MSW LMT.
Order your picnic lunch online . $20 per person. $15 children under 12.
Can use Kohala or Kona EBT coupons to pre-order picnic, email to RSVP or to request a scholarship if a SNAP user.
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March19 & 27
GIY: Grow it Yourself
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Curious how to grow your own sprouts? Wanting to add a mini herb garden's fresh greens to your life? Hungry for fresh salad greens?
During March, Hawaii EBT users* can order a free seed or seedling kit valued at $20 as the final Same Canoe coupon Local Food Challenge offer.
Non-EBT users are also welcome to order a kit at the cost of materials, $20 each.
Kits will be available by PREORDER on March 19th at the Hawi Farmers Market, and on Sunday March 27th at the South Kona Green Market for those who have preordered.
*Open to EBT SNAP users in North Kohala, South Kona and Kau.
Note your choice of one of these two options and EBT or cash method:
A) Sprouted high protein seed kit (alfalfa and other seeds), EBT or $20
B) 4-plant herb garden and a 4-plant salad green garden, EBT or $20
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New Medical Discoveries: Healing Your Microbiome
This evening of food and wellness resoruce sharing features the importance of healing your microbiome for health and happiness with
Stacey Shepard and Donna Maltz at the North Kohala Library, 6:30-8:00 pm
This eye opening introduction to the important connection between our digestive system (gut) and over all health and mental well being is based on scientific studies that will change your thinking about self care. With 25 million bacteria in EVERY body, let's learn how to keep them happy and helpful.
Taste it and Feel the Difference!
Stacey and Donna will explain connections between our diet, nutrition, over stressed systems, and multiple health challenges, with clear suggestions for solutions. The role positive bacteria play in physical and mental health is the subject of multiple current research projects. From daily tonics to support for severe conditions, thee two speakers have valuable nutrition solutions to share.
You'll be surprised to hear how truly connected our body system is, from the foods we eat, to the brain chemistry that supports good moods and clear thinking, to chronic illness, to the overall level of well being that impacts us every day. Learn how to lower inflammation and live a healthier, happier life.
Stacey is a licensed acupuncturist and certified GAPS practitioner, one of only two in Hawaii.
Donna is a certified nutrition coach and fermenter extraordinaire.
"Let Food be Thy Medicine"
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Make the Local Food Pledge
to help increase Island food security
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Food, Health & Wellness Forums
What happens when a group of 40 food, health and wellness activists come together for an evening of talk story?
Our first forum, held in Kohala, was a great success.
See the results below
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Do you live in an
The combination of agriculture and housing in close proximity is a familiar lifestyle choice in rural Hawaii towns.
In urban areas of the island, where housing is not near farm land, lively farmers' markets and CSA deliveries help residents get more connected to their food sources.
Where do you live, in a Foodshed or an Agrihood?
We all live in a Food Shed. In some cases a Foodshed is measured as a 100 mile radius of food production. In others it follows specific topographic boundaries, much like a water shed. On the Island of Hawaii, we can count the entire island as our Foodshed. And inside this tropical growing region are smaller, localized areas where we live, shop, dine or grow food. For example, North Kohala is its own micro Foodshed, as are South Kona, Holualoa, Ka'u, Hamakua and so on. But what is an Agrihood?In some places you can live in both a Foodshed and in an Agrihood - even if you live at the edge of a large city, and more often if you live in a small rural town. Agrihoods are a new farm-connected community design concept that recaptures positive characteristics of small towns in both rural and urban settings. Agrihoods offer walkable, village scale life with community food garden and flower plots, safe, nearby organic commercial farming with seasonal veggies and fruit, weekly gatherings around mobile food trucks or at local food cafes with music and laughter, and support a diversity of farm stands and farmers' markets. Agrihood locations may offer a delicious CSA program with food harvested right from the nearby community farm, creating more opportunities for hyper-local employment. Others may have walking paths connecting homes with gardens and the farm, and some communities are exploring viable farm land access models for young farmers and the future of farming. Finding Inspiration
Hawaii's rural communities enjoy many of these Agrihood features. Even our more urban centers like Hilo and Kona have farm connections just a short drive away, are integrating food crops into the urban landscape, and enjoy cultural events centered around in-town farmers' markets. Another example are the Blue Zone communities around the world which share many Agrihood features that are recognized as helping foster healthy lifestyles and longevity. Over the coming months in the newsletter, we'll be taking a look at how to better improve our own Hawaii community designs by visiting Agrihoods & Foodsheds around the world. One example is Agritopia, a planned community in the unexpected location of Gilbert, Arizona, an outlier of Phoenix. Check out the Farm at Agritopia online and in a short NBC video about their farm and community. Community gardens, commercial farm, farm to fork events, weekly markets, and U-Pick enrich the lives of the 450 households just a few steps away from the farm. All great ideas to increase the livability of Hawaii.
Green is a Verb. U Pick it!
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March 2016 Local Food
Challenge:
 Join a Farm-Fresh Produce
CSA Program
We are fortunate in North and West Hawaii to have four CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) options that bring fresh, local produce to your table, every week. Good for your tummy, great for the future of farming.
How is a CSA different than going to a Farmers' Market?
Many local food buyers around the U.S. do both - join a CSA and shop at their farmers' market. Both methods help farmers, but in different ways.
Joining a CSA is the strongest way to support local agriculture in that you make an agreement to support local farmers on a steady, regular basis. In some areas, a farm 'share' (for example, $250-$500 per growing season) is purchased at the beginning of the growing season, providing small farms with much needed up-front working capital for seeds, tools, water and their time.
In other areas, like Hawaii, current CSA memberships are more flexible and can be agreed to on a weekly or monthly basis. In either model, buyers vote with their dollars for local food by pre-arranging a specific order or series of orders.
How does this help the farmer?
 A CSA membership gives a farmer a clearer picture of their monthly or annual farm sales income. This enables them to learn and then grow what customers most want, allows them to scale-up to meet demand, and minimizes wasted produce - and wasted time. When a CSA reaches a threshold of 100 customers, the scale of a growing operation becomes much more cost effective for the farmer. Compare this to the variable costs for a farmer to not only grow the products over several months of work, but then show up at a farmers' market and not know what, or how much, produce will be bought. Income from farmers' market sales varies widely every week. To bring produce to a farmers' market, 100% of the grower's costs are born in advance of connecting to a potential customer. That puts the farmer at a higher risk of not even covering their considerable up-front growing costs. With the CSA model, a portion of the cost to bring food to the buyer is acquired in advance of delivery, easing the economic risks and stress of farming. If we want to keep small farms alive, we must help lessen their risks any way we can.
The CSA model offers farmers improved economic security - gives buyers a leap forwards in food security - and helps keep small farms
alive and thriving.
Try a CSA subscription and let us know your experience:
Food Basket 'Da Box'
Tuesday deliveries Kona to Ocean View, Wednesday deliveries Kona to North Kohala; pick up at community centers, $10-16; link Adaptations 'Fresh Feast"
Tuesday deliveries to community and business locations from Kealakekua to Waikaloa; $22-$35, link
HIP Agriculture
New CSA sign-ups starting in March, see HIP at the Hawi Farmers Market on Saturdays for details for food delivery starting in April. link
Blue Dragon Farm
Monthly deliveries, 4th Mondays, $15-$25,
sign up at the BDF Hawi Farmers Market booth on Saturdays.
FREE CSA SHARES for EBT Users in March
Same Canoe EBT members are pre-qualified for free jumpstart CSA shares, good for two to four weeks total ($40 each EBT user), to help jump start your experience with CSA food shares.
40 spaces available and must be activated by March 15th.
If you know of other CSAs in operation, please let us know.
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Kohala: Living Longer, Living Better
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Plant-based foods by Superfood Chef Todd Dacey
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Monday, February 22nd, over 40 people participated in the first Kohala Food, Health and Wellness Forum held at the North Kohala Public Library. Ages ranged from 12-80. In the outdoor lanai, healthy foods were presented by Donna Maltz and Todd Dacey to set the stage for the evening. We began the evening with a Mindfulness talk shared by Joel and Michelle Levey and then enjoyed a global-to-local-view slide presentation about Hawaii Blue Zones. This was followed by short introductions from a diversity of 11 practitioners and presenters, many of whom are invited to return for Monday evening food or wellness learning activities at the library, starting in May. The evening concluded with lively audience input about their top concerns and, as a first outcome, the online Forum is now active to view and give feedback.
Meet the First Kohala Feb 22nd Forum Presenters here
Speak Up! Community Input is invited hereNext Event, Monday, March 21st at the Kohala Public Library
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Other Upcoming Food, Health and Wellness Suggestions
Microbiome Medicine Summit, free online sessions, Feb 29-March 4, link
Natural Healing Summit, free online sessions, March 14-22 link
Hawaii Island Food Policy Alliance Meeting, March 15th, 10-noon, NHERC
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